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Since our founding in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union has led the fight to conserve our most precious liberties. Through the passion of our supporters, we have grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of more than 500,000 active members and supporters with 54 state affiliate offices as well as a legislative office in Washington, DC.

The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) has adopted a new policy for the care of transgender prisoners after a transgender woman incarcerated in a Michigan prison campaigned, with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (ACLU of Michigan), to receive the hormone therapy she was denied.

Time For A More Intersectional Trans Allyship

2016-12-09 00:00:00

The results of last month’s election sent shockwaves through many communities, not the least of which were transgender communities. For many trans and gender non-conforming people (TGNC) – already at heightened risk from increasingly dangerous policy proposals– the feeling turned from intense anxiety to one of palpable fear.

Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan's LGBT Project, reacted today to news that Judge Nancy Edmunds dismissed the group's lawsuit against the state Secretary of State for its discriminatory ID policy. After the ACLU of Michigan filed its lawsuit in May 2015, the Secretary of State implemented significant changes designed to make it easier for transgender Michiganders to obtain ID that accurately reflects their gender:

Hunter: Our Dreams and Our Identities Are Not Mutually Exclusive

2016-08-02 00:00:00

It isn’t really about bathrooms, is it?

Of course it isn’t.

It’s not really even about transgender people. It’s about people being different. Those of us who are fortunate enough to do civil liberty and social justice work have always known that. But, to many Americans who don’t know a transgender or gender nonconforming person, the fearful and exclusionary rhetoric about gender identity obscures the truth: Transgender Americans are just like them.

Month of May Marks Historic Moment for Transgender Community

2016-05-31 00:00:00

It was Monday, May 9, 2016 and the week began with a press conference. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, were to announce a legal challenge to North Carolina’s anti-transgender House Bill 2.

Michigan Transgender Advocacy Project is Working

2016-02-01 00:00:00

The Transgender Advocacy Project was conceived from a very simple premise: Transgender people’s voices are critical to moving the entire equality movement forward in a post-marriage equality America. And it’s working.

Next month, some 25 transgender Michiganders and allies will complete the first Advocacy University program. They have engaged in a six-month, intensive education program designed to impart sophisticated advocacy skills and a real-world perspective on the challenges of moving pro-active transgender inclusive policy forward.

Accurate ID For Trans Community Is Step Toward Transition

2015-11-19 00:00:00

Imagine waking up in the body of the opposite sex.

For some people this could be a fun exercise, a chance to trade places with your wife or husband and see the world through a new lens. But what if your gender—the ingrained qualities and characteristics that tells you from birth that you're meant to be male or female—leaves you shut out from this new world view?

Suddenly, pretending to be the opposite sex seems extremely difficult. And when you are a transgender person forced to live as the wrong gender every day, it can be torture.

DETROIT—A federal judge today refused to dismiss an ACLU lawsuit challenging a state policy that makes it nearly impossible for transgender Michiganders to change gender markers on their driver's licenses and state IDs.

Progress Shows in Court to Change Michigan ID Policy

2015-11-06 00:00:00

As I sat in Judge Edmund’s courtroom Wednesday afternoon, listening to arguments in our case of Love v. Johnson, I felt this strong surge of emotion inside of me.

This is because—after so many years of both callous disregard and disinterest by Michigan public policy makers on everything, from civil rights, access to health care to crimes of violence—the transgender community finally got their day in court and finally got their chance to have their concerns heard.